Calls for the UK to pay billions in slave trade reparations 'ironic'

Calls from Barbados for the UK to pay billions in compensation for its role in the slave trade were branded 'utterly ironic' last night over the country's links to China. 

A group of Caribbean governments has agreed to put slavery reparations on the table at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa next week.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, is leading demands from West Indies nations and she met King Charles earlier this month ahead of the 56-nation gathering. 

She has said reparations for slavery and colonialism should be part of a new 'global reset'. 

Estimates for the likely reparations bill for British involvement in slavery in 14 countries range from £206billion to £19trillion.

But last night Ms Mottley was criticised over her country's links to China where the UN has reported the forced labour of members of minority groups. 

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Tory grandee and China hawk Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Mail: 'It is utterly ironic that countries that bend the knee to China and take the "belt and road" money turn a blind eye to the fact that China is now probably the biggest user of slavery in its production lines and its products. 

'It is a country that is committing genocide in Xinjiang amongst the Uyghurs, and persecutes Christians and practises forced organ harvesting on organisations like Falun Gong and Christians. 

'So how ironic that people should call on us to pay them, when they are busy cosying up on their knees to China in the hope of more money from an appalling, abusive nation that has one of the worst records in history in abuse and political execution.' 

Barbados and China have close trading links and the island is part of Beijing's 'belt and road initiative', a global infrastructure programme. 

The Mail on Sunday, which first reported that slavery reparations would be on the table at the Commonwealth meeting, also said Ms Mottley has described her country as 'the home of modern racism' thanks to British rule from 1625. 

She has said Barbados is owed $4.9trillion (£3.9trillion) by former slave-owning nations. 

Sir Iain dismissed calls for reparations, saying the UK 'spent billions in ending the slave trade'. 

He added: 'We have paid well over the asking price for anything to do with what happened because we were the ones who paid through the nose to stop it.' 

Ms Mottley has praised previous comments by King Charles, who said acknowledging the wrongs of the past was a 'conversation whose time has come'. 

A spokesman for the Commonwealth Secretariat told The Mail on Sunday: 'Commonwealth heads have always discussed challenges and aspirations constructively.'